STAT3 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Another study by Yu et al. showed that miR-345 underexpression was observed in HCC tissues and cells and illustrated that the loss of miR-345 promoted HCC cell migration and invasion and resulted in epithelial-mesenchymal-transition (EMT) progression, probably by targeting interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1)-mediated mTOR/STAT3/AKT signaling in vitro.